Sometimes called a ghost town, Jarbidge residents
do not claim, nor do they want the status. A handful of hardy souls brave
the frigid winters in the "Canyon of the Evil Giant" in northern Elko County
but the place often takes on the hustle and bustle of a boom town on summer
weekends and during hunting seasons. The 20th century gold camp is one
of the most picturesque old communities in Nevada.
It is said that the legend of a giant cannibal, Tsawhawbitts
(tuh-saw-haw-bits),
prevented any Indians from settling in the deep canyon. They believed he
roamed the forests with a basket, looking for unsuspecting souls to capture
and eat. Nothing, though, not even the story of the human eating giant,
deterred prospectors in their search for glittering treasure.
In the 1870s, when feverish prospecting and
mining activity gripped Nevada, several men trekked into Jarbidge Canyon
and came out empty handed.
In the middle 1880s, a local ranch worker
found a bit of color and his story brought in a couple of men who
netted nothing but mysterious troubles on their quest. They found a place
guarded by a skeleton but that was the least of their problems. Both became
extremely ill and they were forced to leave the canyon. One died, the other
could never be persuaded to return and the legend of "The Lost Sheepherder
Mine" was born.
David Bourne is credited with making the first
big discovery. In the spring of 1909 he hit pay dirt and staked out several
claims. He called them the North Star Group. By the end of the year more
than seventy-five claims were recorded at the county seat in Elko. The
boom was on its way.

One of the earliest scenes of Jarbidge, Probably in 1909.
Photograph from the Northeastern Nevada Museum, Elko, files.

Newspapers carried reports that more than one
quarter of a million dollars in gold was visible. Jarbidge miners predicted
a population of 10,000. Many wanted to start their own county. None of
this came to pass.
Individuals and small companies didn't have
a chance with the nearest railroad many miles away in Idaho. Everything
was brought in by horse and mule trains. Freighting costs were sky high.
One enterprising man brought in a couple of tons of coal by parcel post
which was cheaper than freighting it. The US Post Office soon called a
halt to the practice. To add to the troubles there was no electricity to
run mills.
Then, in 1913, Elkoro Mining Company, part
of Guggenheim's Yukon Gold Company, moved into the canyon leasing and buying
claims right and left. A huge mill was built and a water system put in.
Elkoro went to work and, before the mines closed in the 1930s, took out
most of the total of ten million dollars produced by the district.
Lonely bachelors in Jarbidge, in 1916, appealed
to newspapers asking them to help with a serious problem - lack of women.
One Reno women showed up and married Robert Knight, a local miner.
During the town's lively life it was like
most mining camps, a rough and tumble place, but law enforcement was never
much of a problem. The little community does hold one distinction in the
annals of crime. It is the site of the last horse-drawn stage robbery in
the nation. Note that the word is stage, not stage coach. It was a buckboard
carrying letters, packages, supplies and cash.
In December, 1916, the stage from Rogerson,
Idaho, was held up on the north edge of town. The driver was shot and killed
and a few thousand dollars taken. Ben Kuhl was one of those arrested and
convicted for the deed. Kuhl would eventually gain the dubious honor of
being the longest resident at the state prison in Carson City. Note:
The story of the crime appears in the Archives of these historical vignettes
- Case Number 606 Makes History. Just scroll down in the index. Elkoro brought in power in 1919 and refused
to allow the town access. It was a decision that later haunted the company.
A barrel of homemade whiskey blew up in the
basement of the Success Bar. With the help of open gas lamps and an explosion,
the fire quickly spread. Burning tar paper floating in the wind spread
the fire to the other side of the street.

Center of town before the big fire.
Photograph from the files of the Northeastern Nevada Museum, Elko.

There were 22 business establishments wiped
out along with several log cabins. Some of those consumed by the flames
were the Success Bar, Mint Bar, telephone office, movie house, dance hall,
and the Dozier Restaurant. Mrs. McCullock's barber shop went up in smoke.
The men called her Gerty-Gerty and they loved being shaved by Gerty-Gerty
and her lady tonsorial artists.
Jarbidge residents were bitter, saying that
the gas lamps would not have been there to spread the fire if Elkoro had
allowed the camp to hook into their power lines. The company relented and
permitted the people to connect into their lines.
Elkoro closed down its operations in the 1930s
leaving 90,000 feet of underground workings. That adds up to about seventeen
miles of disappointment for the individual miners but a lot of money for
the mining and milling companies. Numbers and dollars cannot tell of the
hopes of prospectors when they found color. Statistics do tell of the sweat,
long days of back breaking work, and the bad air in the tunnels. Most of
the miners had tenacity as hard as the rock they mined, but there is a
time to quit and most did when they sold out or leased the claims to the
big mining companies.
What a dream! They could see the gold. They
could smell the gold. They knew El Dorado was there within reach. It was
just dreaming but what fun it was while it lasted.
How good was the district? Not bad at all
when the big mills churned away all day on a mass treatment basis, but
deadly to the little man. About ten million dollars (in today's prices,
that's about $85,000,000) were produced making Jarbidge the leading gold
producer in the state in 1918 and 1919. Hardly any of that, only wages,
went into the pockets of the miners and workers.
Jarbidge today is a pleasant place to visit.
Tall trees and steep canyon walls are a perfect setting for the town. Residents
organize several weekend celebrations during summer which brings in so
many people that the place takes on the appearance of a boom town again.
A few hardy souls live there year round.
With a little imagination, while there, one
can hear music of the Roaring Twenties and feel the presence of those hardy
souls who left a portion of their lives and dreams in the "Canyon of the
Evil Giant." It is a place where one can walk in the past, faintly hearing
shouts of the miners, the blasts deep in the bowels of the earth, and a
steady pounding of stamps whispering gold...gold...gold...gold.

Howard HicksonJune 23, 2001

Note: For the past few years Jarbidge has been the center
of a controversy between the US Forest Service and a group of private citizens
along with the Elko County Commissioners. The trials and tribulations of
ownership of the South Canyon Road will not be discussed here but an agreement
was finally reached. It was a strange one. The road belongs to the
county but various federal agencies will have a say on how the road is
rebuilt and its future maintenance. The full story would have considerably
lengthened this article. The struggle, from time to time, made national
headlines and news.